“Think like a plant,” Paul Saladino, known online as Carnivore MD, tells me from the confines of a YouTube video.
He’s trying, as he often does, to convince the world that vegetables are probably not good for us, and a diet consisting almost entirely of meat is the best way to “thrive.”
“If we think about this intuitively, on a high level, without going into science… plants are going to put all of their defense chemicals into those parts of the plant,” says Saladino.
It is one of her few video posts where she wears a t-shirt. Indeed, it is a habit among influential carnivores to appear shirtless, barefoot, and generally as similar to “our ancestors” as possible.
Another influencer, known as Liver King, who addresses his followers as “primals,” roars at the camera about the benefits of going barefoot.
Charging
“You connect, you anchor to the earth, [because] Why would you let your environment rule you?” says Liver King.
Content like this is the most extreme expression of carnivore culture online. Many of these influencers have monetized their presence on social media and sell their own nutritional supplements.
It’s a giddy machismo sucker sucking raw testicles, diet pseudoscience and do your own research.
The uncompromising rhetoric of the online carnivorous community is a far cry from the reality of the diet of Curtis Sironen, a professional rugby league player who describes himself as “a convert.”
“I was basically completely carnivorous for probably eight months when Sydney was really hit by COVID,” says Curtis.
At the time he was playing in the NRL for the Manly Sea Eagles and battling chronic injuries.
“It got to the point where I thought I’d try anything and I’m kind of desperate,” he says.
The owners of a recovery center he was associated with proposed the carnivore diet, and Curtis was skeptical at first.
“I was like ‘no way.’ Like, it just sounded ridiculous. I wouldn’t be full enough, I wouldn’t have the energy.”
In the end, though, they convinced him to give it a try and put him in touch with a self-described “ancestral nutritionist” who sent him some meal plans.
“[They] It seemed kind of wild, like basically fasting from 8 p.m. to noon every day and then breaking your fast with three or four rib steaks in bone broth,” he says.
But Curtis says the results came quickly and were significant.
“Honestly, probably within a fortnight, I started to feel the effects…and those little aching pains started to go away, which [was] kind of like my goal.”
What nutrition experts say about the carnivore diet
Emma Beckett, a food and nutrition scientist at the University of Newcastle, like many in her field, has strong reservations about the diet.
“There are potential consequences in terms of eating too much meat, and if you only eat meat, you are most likely eating too much meat,” says Dr. Beckett.
“Too much meat poses risks of things like too much saturated fat… which increases our risk of heart and cardiovascular disease.”
He also warns that it can mean missing out on important things like vitamin C, fiber, and vitamin K.
The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend eating five different food groups, which includes vegetables and legumes; Fruit; meat, poultry and fish; and dairy products.
Charging
Dr. Beckett is the first to admit that any diet can be done right or wrong.
However, the problem with a poor diet is that the worst effects may not be felt for decades.
“The body is really good at what we call homeostasis… keeping things normal,” she says.
“So we’re not just eating for our health today, but we’ll be eating for our health in… 10 years, 20 years, hopefully.”
A common refrain in the carnivore community is that mainstream food and nutrition science is dominated by orthodoxy, and vested interests prevent proper study.
But Dr. Beckett says that opinion stems from a misunderstanding of what nutrition science is.
“We don’t make nutrition decisions based on individual studies or segregating people into different groups,” she says.
“We make decisions based on the body of evidence, a lot of evidence, a lot of studies.
“So we typically don’t study people on a carnivorous diet because that would be unethical, because we know from the body of evidence that we already have that putting people on a carnivorous diet could harm them.”
And if that sounds like catch-22 to you, then you might be beginning to appreciate a fraction of the persuasive force behind this move.
a moment of extremes
I spoke with Matt Klein, a cultural strategist from the US, about what’s driving the enthusiasm for meat at this point in history.
“I mean, we’re in a time of extremes,” he says.
“Culture exists as tensions…so when we see the rise of veganism, you will see the pull or the opposite and that will be the meat diet.”
He points to the democratization of online health information.
“We live in a metaverse or multiverse of truth, right? You could choose your own adventure.”
In general, says Matt, institutional confidence is declining and Conspiracy theories are on the rise.
“And this is not to call dieting conspiracy theories, but rather it is a question of power for the people and … determining what is best for us,” he says.
Of course, that doesn’t account for everyone who adopts the carnivore diet, but for Matt, there’s a broader cultural sentiment underpinning the movement.
“In a time of cultural instability, we look for resolve, morality, and like-minded people to surround ourselves with.”
Ange Lavoipierre is an award-winning journalist, writer and comedian. She is the host and EP of ABC’s new culture podcast, Schmeitgeist.
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